In reply to Brett_Murphy :
there is no way in hell id pay a thousand for that but it is giving me unearned confidence
In reply to Brett_Murphy :
there is no way in hell id pay a thousand for that but it is giving me unearned confidence
I wouldn't stress too much about the slant 6. It will be grossly underpowered for towing, but power is (personally) my last concern. As long as I have enough power to not be any slower than an 18 wheeler on a mountain, I'm good.
Braking, sway/suspension, cooling, and a transmission that won't give up the ghost are my main concerns in a tow rig.
In reply to Curtis :
Power is the fun part, everything else is more boring
If I were to make it a tow rig, what brakes, suspension and transmission stuff would you go for?
I'd prefer to go more junkyard hero than new in box if that makes sense
Brett_Murphy said:I'm glad you didn't decide to tow it yourself. When will we see the build thread?
Right now I guess
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/78-rustbird/162310/page1/#post2893097
Curtis said:I'm not sure of what the chamber design is like on a slant 6, nor am I familiar with their water jackets.
^
There's one!
The Slant Six came with fairly low compression - pistons typically 0.100"-0.200" down in the hole - and a head and valves designed for the 170 CID version, not the 225. Yeah, it's limited in stock form. Bigger valves (limited by the 3.40" bore) and porting help. Turbocharging would help and wouldn't be all that hard. With a truck you'd have room for an intercooler.
Curtis said:I'm not sure of what the chamber design is like on a slant 6, nor am I familiar with their water jackets.
Where I'm going with this: Turbo on an LS is great. You can still do pump gas with 10psi and 9:1 because of aluminum, adequate water jackets, chamber design, and knock sensors. Putting a turbo on something like (for instance) a flathead with no coolant passages and terrible chambers means 5 psi and 6:1 compression if you want to use pump gas, and even then the towing heat loads will make it detonate 4 seconds after you start up a hill.
I would just like to do some research on slants before I can get on the hairdryer bandwagon.
There are a number of slant sixes that have been successfully turbo'd. Biggest issue iirc is getting the head to flow better.
TurboFocus said:In reply to Curtis :
Power is the fun part, everything else is more boring
If I were to make it a tow rig, what brakes, suspension and transmission stuff would you go for?
I'd prefer to go more junkyard hero than new in box if that makes sense
It likely has either the 904 or 727 automatic in it, yes? The 904 is a lighter duty and the 727 is a bit beefier. Think of them as comparable to the chevy TH350 and TH400. Both should be fine. I would add a supplemental cooler.
The main thing about suspension is making sure all of the bushings, bolts, ball joints, tie rod ends, etc are in tip top shape. Is there any play in the steering wheel? Fix it. If you get a trailer swaying back and forth, accurate steering is key. Weak or soft bushings can cause more deflection, which means the tugs and pulls from the trailer will cause your alignment and steering to do its own thing.
For suspension help, you can add a helper leaf spring if you want, but sometimes they aren't the greatest. A proper weight distributing hitch is more important at the weights you're thinking.
Brakes: it can be done with junkyard (or at least parts-bin shopping). First step would be to determine which axle is under the back. Likely a Dana 44 or some variant of it. It was used in Dodge trucks as late as 2001, and even used in some of the lighter duty 3/4 dodge pickups 88-95. I don't know if upgraded brakes are that easy (who knows what type of flange differences there are over the years) but dig into some parts manuals and see what you can find.
Another possibility is to check some spring spacing and overall width. It's possible that a bigger-brake Dana 44 or Dana 60 is a bolt-in swap. I've done that before with chevys... take out the 8.5" and put in a 14-bolt and the biggest thing was snagging the shorter driveshaft when you got the axle. Very important to pay attention to brake hydraulics as well. You can't go nuts swapping brake parts around and expect them to work right. You'll have to research the sizes of the components and match the master cylinder to it. For instance, I put 3/4 ton spindles and a 1-ton axle in a 66 Bonneville. Given the diameter of the front calipers and the rear cylinders, I had to match up a master cylinder and it took some pretty serious digging. Ended up finding one from a late 70s Pontiac with the right specs. The net result was great braking, but I had to redrill the brake pedal to overcome some excessive travel/assist at my foot.
That's the cheap way to do it. The expensive way is to just find a brake upgrade kit and bolt it on. That way someone else has done the engineering for you.
Another thing you might consider as a wee bit of overkill: If you have some welding skillz, consider a Panhard bar. Certainly not needed with leaf springs, but it can make a world of difference when it comes to keeping the body in a fixed vertical arc relative to the axle.
Also, make sure you have adequate tires. Many 1/2 ton trucks simplify (go cheap) things with passenger tires because the weight rating on the sidewall says so. There is a massive difference between a 1500-lb capacity P tire versus a 1500-lb capacity LT tire when it comes to sidewall integrity. A C-range LT truck tire will be light years better than a P tire of the same capacity.
Your truck with have either a 8 1/4 or 9 1/4 rear end. MoPat never used the D44 under the rear of Domestic '72-93 Dodge trucks. You most likely will have a 8 1/4 with the Slant Six. Your brakes will be fine with occasional towing of a light-ish car on a trailer.
Trans is probably a 998, but a 727 is an outside possibility. The 998 and 999 have a lower first gear and more clutches than a regular 904. Which help for towing. If the trans is working fine, add a trans cooler in line with your factory one in your radiator and go. If you want to be a get more anal, you can add a shift improver kit to your trans. MAKE SURE YOUR KICKDOWN LINKAGE IS ADJUSTED CORRECTLY. It is the main killer of these transmissions.
Steering slop is usually from the steering coupler. Sometimes from a loose steering box and/or craked box mount. There are fixes for all of these. Strut rod bushings are usually the first to go in the suspension, with LCE bushings not far behnd. New rubber ones are softer and cheaper, Poly are firmer and squeeky. Ball joints are pretty easy of your truck needs them.
Some of the low end trucks came with very small mirrors. If your truck came with these, like I have on my 2wd Ramcharer, you should upgrade to something larger. (And sell the original mirrors to me so I can use them on my other 2wd Ramcharger 
)
If you want added resistance to squat while towing, add a couple air bags to the rear. Make sure you have a good, frame mounted class III or better hitch if you are towing a car. And pull the ball mount out when not in use so it doesn't get rusted in place, or even worse make me bang my shin when I am walking past the back of your truck. 
In reply to Cooter :
Yeah I definitely didn't murder the 727 behind my Cummins with a jammed up kickdown cable. That definitely did not happen. (That happened)
Cooter said:Your truck with have either a 8 1/4 or 9 1/4 rear end. MoPat never used the D44 under the rear of Domestic '72-93 Dodge trucks. You most likely will have a 8 1/4 with the Slant Six.
You're right... I was thinking fronts, which they did use the D44 from the 70s through the 00s
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